The Girna Dam with a capacity of 18.487 TMC, was filled to 100% on Sunday midnight, providing relief to six talukas in Jalgaon district and two in Nashik district — Malegaon and Nandgaon. Executive Engineer of the Girna Irrigation Department, Vinod Patil, told The Free Press Journal that the dam has reached full capacity only 14 times in the last 56 years. Meanwhile, six projects in the Dhule district have also filled to their limits.
Patil said five water cycles will be released, including one for drinking and two for irrigation. Two gates have already been opened, and a warning has been issued to downstream villages.
The Waghur dam, which supplies Jalgaon city, is now 97% full, while the Hatnur dam on the Tapi river continues to discharge excess water. Six medium projects in Dhule district — Panjra, Malangaon, Jamkhedi, Kanoli, Burai and Mukti — are full, while Akkalpada is 93%, Wadi Shewadi 60% and Karvand 87% full, bringing further relief to the region.
Completed in 1969 at a cost of Rs 13crore, the dam on the Girna river receives inflows from the Chankapur and Punad dams in Nashik. It supplies drinking and irrigation water to Chalisgaon, Bhadgaon, Erandol, Pachora, Dharangaon and Jalgaon talukas, as well as Malegaon and Nandgaon. Seven municipalities, Malegaon Municipal Corporation, two talukas, 172 villages and 60,000 hectares of farmland benefit from its waters.
